First Works: You & Your Bible

Two years before God graciously saved me I began to read the Bible. It was a weird experience then because I had no enlightenment from the Spirit to help me spiritually comprehend what I was reading. Academically I was able to process the data between its covers but, frankly, I never grasped its potency in those days. At times it made me afraid because I sensed God was mad at me due to my lifestyle. Other times of reading had me wiping tears from my eyes because I was broken inside, empty and wanting to believe that there was something real in this world for me to believe in. Looking back I conclude that I was dead to the scriptures, having ears but not hearing, having eyes but not seeing. On a drizzly Thursday morning in August of 1994 I put myself at the mercy of God and turned over control of my life to Him. It was the end of a long, agonizing wrestling match with the concept of faith and, even as I exercised true, saving faith, I still understood little of what was happening with me. I knew only that God was stronger than me and I could no longer resist His love. He won the contest…and how glad I am that He did. I was changed in a day and have been experiencing change ever since as He faithfully works on me like He relentlessly does to all who belong to Him. One of the unanticipated results from my salvation experience was that I was made alive to the Book. God opened my mind to the Truth and it has been my foundation since those early days. Simply put, I’m a Bible-believer and not ashamed at all to confess that.

“Here then, is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God’s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy.” – R.C. Sproull

I write to my brothers and sisters in the faith today to encourage you to commit to becoming reacquainted with God’s Word. Your strength is found there and that is why the enemy is actively trying to convince us to be bored with it. Your hope is found written in God’s promises, preserved in your Bible and that is why the enemy seeks to keep you entrenched in other things, lest you find a reason to live in joy. Your purpose is affixed in those oft-neglected pages as God’s Spirit will take what is written and implant it into your soul, causing you to live for something beyond this life below. Your anchor is discovered in the Scriptures so your enemy convinces you to seek truth and answers elsewhere, lest you become a steady disciple. Sproull speaks correctly above when he notes that, perhaps above all, we abandon our Bibles because the treasure-hunting is difficult at times and we are loathe to much that requires discipline and diligence. Nonetheless, that Bible is the key and always has been; wisdom awaits you there and is calling out to you as it invites you to come and dine. The eternal mirror of God’s Word shows you Him, yourself and everything which comes between you two.

You are still reading it, aren’t you?

When Christ told the church at Ephesus that they had abandoned their first love (Rev. 2:1-7), He prescribed to them a remedy that included going back to remember and resume the things they did when their faith was brand new. For you and me this would include an indulgence in the Scriptures. My message is simple today and not above a one of our heads. What you are searching for will not be discovered without this. It’s the same for us all and it is gloriously inviting:

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2 Comments

I enjoy reading the Bible but I don’t do it as much as I would like. One of the things that I love about the Word of God is that it is both incredibly simple and wildly complex.

For example, the study of Hezekiah shows us that one of the pitfalls of knowing when you are going to die is, of course, that you also know when you AREN’T going to die. Yet, earlier in the same study, we are faced with a potential “logical conflict” between omnipotence (God’s soverign ability to change His mind) and omniscience (God’s perfect knowledge of all things).

The wisdom and beauty in God’s Word brings me to my knees!

andrea fon July 18, 2012 at 9:15 am

I have found He speaks and works through His Word, He just will not work any other way. I want to hear and know.